Three-dimensional checker game apparatus

ABSTRACT

A checker game having five identical vertically spaced game boards each shaped in the form of a pentagon which is divided into three groups of different sized triangles, each group having one of three visual characteristics different from one another and each triangle having a visual characteristic different from an adjacent triangle. The game boards are oriented in a manner whereby no more than two triangles on one board are coaxial with triangles on an adjacent board having the same visual characteristic. Play is conducted with three sets of pieces having visual characteristics corresponding to those of said groups, the pieces being initially placed on their corresponding triangles on the topmost, bottommost and middle game boards.

United States Patent Thompson [151 3,656,755 [451 Apr. 18, 1972 [54]THREE-DIMENSIONAL CHECKER GAME APPARATUS {72] Inventor: Robert 1.Thompson, 7444 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, La. 70118 [22] Filed:June 26, 1970 [21] App]. No.: 50,262

{52] US. Cl. ..273/l31 AC, 273/137 R [51] Int. Cl. [58] Field of Search..273/l3l [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS D200,l09 1/1965Hirsch ....273/131 B UX 598,969 2/1898 Andertom. ..273/131 KN 2,652,2559/1953 Rutz ....273/l31 B X 3,399,895 9/1968 Beach ..273/l3l B PrimaryExaminer-Delbert B. Lowe Attorney-Watson, Cole, Grindle & Watson [57]ABSTRACT A checker game having five identical vertically spaced gameboards each shaped in the form of a pentagon which is divided into threegroups of different sized triangles, each group having one of threevisual characteristics different from one another and each trianglehaving a visual characteristic-different from an adjacent triangle. Thegame boards are oriented in a manner whereby no more than two triangleson i one board are coaxial with triangles on an adjacent board havingthe same visual characteristic. Play is conducted with three sets ofpieces having visual characteristics corresponding to those of saidgroups, the pieces being initially placed on their correspondingtriangles on the topmost, bottommost and middle game boards.

5 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures THREE-DIMENSIONAL CHECKER GAME APPARATUSThis invention relates generally to games and more particularly to gamesplayed on boards arranged in different planes.

Various board-type games have been devised in the past which make use ofa multi-planar arrangement of playing boards disposed in spaced planeswith pieces or checkers used for movement on or between the boards. Therules for many of such games are similar to those used in theconventional checker and chess games except that the three-dimensionalaspect of the game provides an additional challenge for each player.Nevertheless, many of these prior art games do not always appeal to themodern generation because the conventional rules of chess and checkersare, for the most part, simply enlarged upon for three-dimensionalplaying.

With the present invention, the challenge of the threedimensional typeof chess game is preserved and, as with the ancient game of chess, isprimarily a war game except that a neutral or mediating body is involvedfor rendering either or both opponents neutral whereby peace may bearrived at instead of a mere victory by one of the opponents. Themediating body, represented by a white or neutral color, follows thesame rules as either opponent and plays in succession with them exceptthat neutralization is its aim as opposed to capture. Peace may bedeclared if the mediator succeeds in either neutralizing one of theopponents or creating a stand-off situation between them. The game boardstructure of the invention comprises five identical playing boardsvertically spaced from one another and each in the shape of a pentagondivided into three groups of different sized triangles with each grouphaving a different visual characteristic. Each of the game boards isoriented in a manner that, as between a pair of game boards, the visualcharacteristics of similarly located triangles are substantially not thesame. In each plane, triangles having different visual characteristicsare adjacent one another along a common side and several triangleshaving the same visual characteristic are adjacent along a common apexthereby defining a path of movement for sets of playing pieces providedwith indicia corresponding to each of the three groups. The pieces of asingle set move successively on each plane or through a pair of adjacentplanes along their designated paths.

Two sets of the playing pieces are designated enemies of one anotherwhile the remaining set represents a neutral or mediating body. If,during movement, adjacent triangles on a single plane become occupied,the piece moving into a trian gle adjacent a triangle occupied by anopposing piece thereby captures that piece, except that the neutralplaying pieces can neither capture nor be captured, but serve toneutralize an enemy who occupies a triangle adjacent to that occupied bythe neutral piece.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide athree-dimensional checker board structure having five spaced planes.

Another object of this invention is to provide a three-dimensionalchecker game structure wherein successive movement of playing pieces iscontemplated in a single plane along a designated path or between a pairof adjacent planes along said path for either capturing or neutralizingthe playing piece of an opponent who has occupied a designated portionof the playing board.

A further object of the instant invention is to provide a game ascharacterized wherein each playing board is divided into a plurality ofdifferent sized triangles forming three groups each with differentcolors, adjacent triangles along common sides being of different colorsand several adjacent triangles along a common apex being of the samecolor.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a game ascharacterized wherein there are provided playing pieces corresponding toeach of the three different-colored triangles which pieces may eithercapture or neutralizeone another during their successive movementthrough their respective designated paths in the event that they come torest adjacent a triangle having a common side and occupied by anopponent.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention willbecome apparent from the following detailed description of the inventionwhen considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the game board structure in accordancewith the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of one of the game boards typical for all fiveboards used in the game structure;

FIG. 3 is a view taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 showing the mannerof securing the game boards together;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are top and bottom views, respectively, of a typicalplaying piece for one set of pieces;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are top and bottom views, respectively, typical of anotherset of playing pieces;

FIG. 8 is a top view of a typical one of the remaining set of playingpieces; and,

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along the line 9-9 of FIG. 5.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference characters refer tolike and corresponding parts throughout the several views, there isshown in FIG. I the assembled game board structure 10 in accordance withthe present invention which comprises five playing boards 11a through113, each having five sides and each spaced from one another by means ofrods 12 threaded at each end for engagement with an internally threadedaperture 13 provided centrally of each of the playing boards. Eachplaying board may be made of any suitable material having the requiredrigidity such as any of the well-known transparent plastic materials.

In FIG. 2, it can be seen from a typical showing of one of the boards 11that each is divided into three groups of different sized triangleshaving different visual characteristics such as the color red,represented by vertical lines, the color blue represented by horizontallines and the color white or clear represented by no lines. There arefive red, five white and five blue triangles of three different sizessuch as triangles 14 being the largest, triangles 15 being the nextlargest and triangles 16 being the smallest. These groups of trianglesare formed by joining the alternate outer points of the pentagon bystraight lines such as 17 and thereafter joining the outer points of theinner pentagon so-formed with straight lines such as 18 with the centralpoint of the playing board. By arranging the different colored trianglesin this manner, it will be evident that a path between triangles of alike color is defined for each group for movement through a common apexbetween two of such triangles. Also, it can be observed that no twotriangles of like color are provided with a common side wall.

In order to stabilize each of the playing boards after they areassembled, a star-shaped element 19 having five legs is provided whichmay be partially embedded during molding, for example, within theundersurface of each playing board. Such an element is seen in FIG. 3and in FIG. 2 with its legs extending to each point of the small innerpentagon. During assembly, the playing boards are oriented in a mannersuch that as between pairs of playing boards, the colors for triangles14, 15 and 16 are substantially not the same in their relativelocations. For example, triangle 14a, on playing board 11a, is blue,whereas triangle 14b, lying directly thereunder on board 1 lb, is red,and so on. There are, of course, instances where triangles such as 15dand l5e are the same color, even though they lie one above the other.Such orientation is achieved by simply rotating board 11b through anangle of 72 or a one-fifth turn with respect to board 11a, and so on,for boards 11c, 11d and lle with respect to boards 11b, 11c and 11d. Inthis way, each triangle lies in a different location at each of the fivelevels.

The playing pieces which are provided for the three-dimensional checkergame also bear indicia which correspond to each of the three visualcharacteristics of the three triangle groups. For example, one set ofplaying pieces is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 designated as 21 with a hammerand sickle insignia on the top face as seen in FIG. 4 and with a cloveinsignia on the bottom face of the playing piece, as shown in FIG.

5. The hammer and sickle and the dove are provided in relief form on thefaces of the playing piece 21 in such a manner that, as shown in FIG. 9of the drawings, theraised portions thereof lie slightly below thesurfaces s of the playing piece. Playing piece 21 may be colored red andplaying piece 22, shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, may be colored blue and isprovided on its front face with a four-star insignia as shown in FIG. 6and on its bottom face with a dove insignia similar to that shown inFIG. 5. The third group of playing pieces is typically shown by thepiece 23 in FIG. 8 which is provided on its top face only with a peacesymbol. Pieces 22 and 23 are likewise in relief similar to thatdescribed for piece 21.

The redand blue colors for the triangles on each of the playing boardsare intended to be sufiiciently light so as to allow each of the playersto detect the presence of the playing pieces which lie directly above ordirectly below the board they happen to be playing on. For simplicity,the white triangles may be left clear.

In accordance with the rules suggested for playing the threedimensionalchecker game in accordance with the present invention, there areprovided five playing pieces 21, five playing pieces 22, and threeplaying pieces 23. The red pieces may be designated Commissars, the bluepieces may be designated Four-Star Generals" and the white pieces may bedesignated United Nations Mediators. Of course, designations other thanthese and symbols other than those used for the three types of playingcheckers may be readily substituted if desired. At the start of theplay, all five playing pieces 21 are placed on the topmost playing board110, all five playing pieces 22 are placed on the bottommost playingboard lle and all three playing pieces 23 are placed on the intermediateplaying board 11c. Each playing piece may be placed in any manner on thedesignated playing board so long as it occupies only one of thetriangles and providing no more than three playing pieces occupy thelargest triangle 14, no more than two playing pieces occupy the nextlargest triangle l and no more than one playing piece occupies thesmallest triangle 16. The game is one of strategy designed for threeplayers each in command of one of the three groups of playing pieces,for two players if it is desired to not utilize the pieces 23, or forfour players wherein two of them may alternate theplay for the pieces23. The order of setting up and playing is one piece at a time by firstred, followed by blue and then white except that any player may, ifdesired, move one of his playing pieces during set-up in lieu of placinghis next piece if it becomes apparent after placement by one of theother players that his vantage position can be thereby improved. If thegame involves four players, each of the two governing the white team mayalternate during both placement and movement of the playing pieces 23.

After the play has been fully set up, the player of the red team movesone of his pieces first from one red triangle to another red trianglethrough the common apex between them,

' onetriangle at-a-time. Such movement may take place on playing board110, or through a common apex to playing board 11b since the board atthat level has been rotated through 72 or a one-fifth turn with respectto the playing board 11a. For example, piece 21 may be moved fromtriangle 31 to triangle 32 on board 110 or the piece may be moved from31 to 33 on board 11b since the latter triangles apex is common withthat of triangle 3] through the two planes.

Likewise, the player controlling the blue team moves one of his playingpieces 22 to an adjacent triangle through a common apex either wholly onplaying board lle or up through the common apex to playing board 11d.The player for the white team then moves one of his playing pieces 23 inthe same fashion to an adjacent triangle through a common apex again,either wholly on playing board 110, up to playing board 1 lb or down toplaying board 11d. Each player must move one of his playing piecesduring his turn of the play either on a single plane or between twoadjacent planes up or down, the ob ject being to enter a triangleadjacent one having a common side with said triangle on the same planeand occupied by a member of either the red or the blue team. The pieceneutralized by the white team. The white playing pieces 23 may not,however, be captured since the object of the white team is to neutralizeany red or blue playing piece which it might otherwise capture. Whensuch a playing piece has been rendered neutral, it is turned upside downon the triangle it has occupied so as to display the dove on the backsurface and to thereby render that specific triangle out-of-bounds,i.e., it may not be entered by another playing piece and the piece thathas been rendered neutral may not continue in the play of the game.

As stated above, capturing or neutralizing takes place when one of thered, blue or white playing pieces moves into a triangle having a commonside with a triangle occupied by a playing piece of another color. Thered or blue piece occupying such a triangle is thereby captured by itsopponent or is rendered neutral by a white piece. The white playingpiece occupying such a triangle can be neither captured nor renderedneutral and, should a blue or red playing piece move into a trianglewith a side adjacent to the triangle occupied by the white playingpiece, such blue or red playing piece would then be rendered neutral.Also, should one of the red or blue playing pieces be moved to atriangle having a common side with that occupied by more than oneplaying piece of its opponent, then the moving piece itself is capturedby its enemy which has overpowered it by sheer force of numbers. Ifeither the red or the blue team succeeds in capturing the last piece ofits opponent before the white team of mediators has neutralized the lastpiece of either team, then the game is brought to a close and either thered or blue team is declared victorious. As an alternative, peace mayalso be declared if the play results in a standoff between one blue andone red piece remaining on the board. Also, if more than one piece ofeither opponent occupies a single triangle, a white piece alone is notcapable of neutralizing these blue or red pieces unless a like number ofwhites are moved into the adjacent triangle. For example, if two orthree reds or blues occupy a single triangle, then two or three whitesmust occupy the adjacent triangle before all the pieces of eitheropponent can be declared neutral. On the other hand, if two blues or tworeds occupy a space adjacent a triangle occupied by a single white, forexample. then should one of such blues or reds be thereafter moved, theremaining one is rendered neutral.

From the foregoing, it can be seen that an interesting and challenginggame has been devised which can be played with either two, three or fourpersons and which requires a strategical move during the play on asingle playing board or between pairs of planes assembled in fivedifferent levels through paths which present infinite possible movementssince each of the playing boards is oriented differently with respect toits adjacent board. Also, other and different rules may be readilydevised with the five playing boards and thirteen pieces disclosed bythe present invention. It is, therefore, to be understood that withinthe scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practicedotherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed is:

1. A three-dimensional game comprising: five game boards of identicalshape vertically spaced from one another; each said game board beingshaped in the form of a pentagon and each being divided into threegroups of triangles, each group having a visual characteristic differentfrom those of the other two groups, the triangles in each group having acommon side with triangles in the remaining two groups and pairs of thetriangles of each group having a common apex for each pair; and saidgame boards being so oriented that, as between pairs of said boards, nomore than two triangles on one board being coaxial with triangles on theother board having the same visual characteristic.

2. The game according to claim 1 wherein each group is composed of fivetriangles with three different triangle sizes in each group.

3. The game according to claim 2 wherein triangles having differentvisual characteristics are adjacent one another along a common side andtriangle pairs having the same visual characteristic are adjacent at acommon apex.

4. The game according to claim 3 wherein three sets of play-

1. A three-dimensional game comprising: five game boards of identicalshape vertically spaced from one another; each said game board beingshaped in the form of a pentagon and each being divided into threegroups of triangles, each group having a visual characteristic differentfrom those of the other two groups, the triangles in each group having acommon side with triangles in the remaining two groups and pairs of thetriangles of each group having a common apex for each pair; and saidgame boards being so oriented that, as between pairs of said boards, nomore than two triangles on one board being coaxial with triangles on theother board having the same visual characteristic.
 2. The game accordingto claim 1 wherein each group is composed of five triangles with threedifferent triangle sizes in each group.
 3. The game according to claim 2wherein triangles having different visual characteristics are adjacentone another along a common side and triangle pairs having the samevisual characteristic are adjacent at a common apex.
 4. The gameaccording to claim 3 wherein three sets of playing pieces are providedfor placement on said game board triangles, each set of said playingpieces bearing a visual characteristic corresponding to that of adifferent one of said groups of triangles.
 5. The game according toclaim 4 wherein there are provided five of said playing pieces in eachof two of said sets and three playing pieces in the third set.